|
by Prip Jelena Kostanic had arrived in Sydney as a last-minute decision after skipping the first tournament of the year. The Croat is suffering from some kind of wrist injury, and was unsure of whether to take a break or to come to Australia. Like her struggling countryman and good friend Goran Ivanisevic, but for rather different reasons, she has decided to give it a shot and came anyway. Her first opponent is definitely a player not to be taken lightly. Elena Bovina, a towering member of the growing Russian presence on the tour, looks considerably stronger than any of her compatriots, and has been impressive enough to garner a wildcard into the Philadelphia tournament last year. Jelena opened the match serving, and promptly got broken. She got her break back quickly enough, though, despite some good serves from the Russian. The crowd was slowly starting to grow, as people came in from other courts to sit on the grass. Why sit on the grass? Because the stands were still yet to be set up on the further courts, and the only seats around were the plastic chairs the two coaches had brought themselves. Jelena continues to have problems adjusting to her new serve, and although her serve definitely looked to be an improvement on her old one, she still serves very erratically, and struggles with not only her first serve but also her second, a very disappointing situation for a left-hander to be in. The situation seems to stress her out a little, but of course, a little bit of grit and patience now may pay off later. Despite her serving troubles, the games continued on serve to 3-4, Elena serving. As the players sat down for the changeover, Jelena with a sigh of relief on holding serve and wondering what the heck she was doing on court, and Elena looking confident at getting the crucial break, Tina Pisnik came along with her coach to offer some support to her good friend. Parking themselves on the grass nearby, they stayed and offered words of encouragement to the youngster, but didn't help much. Elena took 3 games in a row to close out the first set 6-4, and was playing very confidently. She went for her shots without a second thought, and hit the ball cleanly, making the Croat react to her shots. It also didn't help that a lot of Jelena's shots were landing less than an inch long, and the frustration kept growing in her. Jelena broke the losing streak by holding serve to open the second set, but her shots just kept landing long. About a year ago, Jelena's backhand was definitely her better wing, and typically her forehand was hit very flat, resulting in a low percentage shot. Under new supervision, she has developed a more aggressive backhand, and has more topspin on her forehand. While most players don't adjust readily to such changes, Jelena has turned things around 180°, and now prefers the forehand to the backhand. In fact, towards the end of the match, she started to run around a lot of backhands, and looked like she was about to turn things around. Unfortunately, she kept pushing her backhand long, keeping the ball on the strings way too long, and Elena played smart tennis, hitting to her opponent's backhand. Another big factor was all the extra weight Jelena is carrying around. Up to 6 months ago, she had the neatest and lightest footwork seen since Steffi Graf, but strength training started to take its toll. Now, in addition to the muscle mass, the Christmas dinners are also weighing the Croat down, and her footwork seems almost lazy. This especially got her in trouble when returning serve. Elena, with her height and strong frame, can not only serve the ball hard, but has good placement as well. The statuesque blonde mixed up her serve very well, serving wide, down the middle, into the body, and throwing in a different spin occasionally, keeping Jelena guessing. Elena took another 3 games in a row for a 3-1 lead. Not at all worried about Jelena's serve, Elena actually stood in the doubles alley many times, and Jelena didn't make the adjustment to serve down the middle, instead serving right into Elena's hitting zone. Jelena only just managed to hold serve, but started to play a little better. While she had been reacting to Elena's shots and not making very strong plays, she started to really take it to the Russian, hitting sharp forehands and getting a few winners in a row to even things back up at 3-all. That's where the bright streak ended, though, and the errors started to come back. Elena hit the ball a little harder and deeper so that Jelena wouldn't be able to run around the backhand without compromising her position on court, and broke serve to take a 5-3 lead. Jelena suddenly found herself serving for the match. As predictable as Venus Williams' match statistics, Jelena suddenly played three brilliant shots in a row to go up 40-love. Elena's strings broke on the third point, the second time in the match, and once again she took her own sweet time changing racquet, even sitting down to do so! She came back not bothered at all by the change, and played hard to take the next three points, aided by more errors from Jelena. Jelena took the ad, but couldn't convert it, and two points later, threw a lob over Elena's head that landed long to lose the match 6-2 6-3. The Russian is certainly a face to look for, and can only improve in the time to come. She already shows solid tennis, and if she could come to net a little more often, would definitely be a challenge to the top players. With her height, she'd probably be able to cover the net as well as Venus Williams, and already has the strength to boot. She has the solid groundstrokes as her compatriots do, but plays with a distinctively different style. She has a tendency, or at least the capability, to play a more all-court game, and it remains to be seen if she can continue to fulfill her potential like Anna Kournikova or lapse into a stagnant period like countless other young players. |